My goal is to give the consumer a better understanding of how to choose the correct type of child safety gate, how to prepare for its installation and finally how to install their baby gate successfully.

Saturday, January 10, 2009

Pressure Fit Baby Gates - These Baby Gates come in several different styles. Once upon a time they were simply barriers than were wedged between two walls or in a door way and you had to step over them in order to go through or remove them completely. Much has changed. Most Pressure Gates today are what I call pressure mounted walk-through gates. This means that the gate itself stays across the opening and is held in place by pressure that is usually created by extending threaded pressure pads to the wall or door jam, these gates have a door that can be opened and closed for convenience. Because this type has a gate within a gate it also has a threshold across the bottom when the gate is opened. Some parents are concerned about having to step over this but let me assure you that the threshold is not really an issue. A great example of this type of gate is the Kidco Center Gateway or the North States Auto Close Gate. Two thing all pressure gates have in common is that they require two flat surfaces across from each other to be mounted against and they can't be mounted on an angle. The best use of this type of gate is in a wood framed doorway. You should also be cautious of mounting against a hollow wall as the pressure pads are likely to punch a hole in the wall. These gates generally are not designed to be mounted on staircases.

Let's make sure that you are selecting this type of gate for the right reason. Yes you should select a pressure fit gate if you are installing it in a doorway or an opening between two rooms and have two solid flat surfaces to mount against. Don't choose this type of gate because you think they will not do any damage to your walls or door frames. The very nature of these gates (applying pressure) says it all. No matter what type of gate you select there will be the need to apply Spackle and paint when your gate is removed in order to bring your home back to its previous luster.

Hardware Mounted Baby Gates - These gates are sometimes also called Stairway Gates because they are the most appropriate type of Child Safety Gate for a staircase. I use this type in installations even if they are not being mounted on a staircase. They are versatile and when mounted properly they are easy to open, most can be removed easily from the mounting hardware if there are occasions when having a Baby Gate installed is not appropriate. These gates also come in different shapes, sizes and colors. Some have the added ability of being able to be mounted on an angle if necessary. Child Safety Gates That Can Be Mounted On An Angle are always a good choice because they can be mounted straight across or on an angle. The ability of these gates to mount at different angles vary, the gate that can be mounted at the steepest angle is the Angle Mount Safeway. My suggestion is to always review the manufacturers instructions prior to attempting installation. Reviewing instructions and installing the gate may even be best accomplished at different times. Any installation where you do not have two flat wood surfaces across from each other would require a Gate Mount in order to have a safer more secure installation. Gate Mounting Systems will be covered in a later post on this blog. I am sure you are getting the message that Hardware Mounted Child Safety Gates are almost always the best choice even though they may require more effort of your part.

Don't Forget the three secrets to successful gate mounting. Choose the right gate for you situation. Read the instructions in advance when that little person is sleeping and you are not distracted. Don't forget to either purchase or make your own gate mounts to install your Child Safety Gate properly.

Child Safety Gates For Wide Or Irregular Openings - Wide or irregular openings usually take a little more time to plan but may actually end up being very simple to install. These situations requires you to do a little creative thinking.

Wide Openings- The first question is how wide is really wide. Are we talking about 48", 72" or 12 or 15 feet. If we are talking about 48" to about 60" these opening can be covered by some pressure gates when adding extensions or a hardware mounted gate also with extensions. Although my preference has been mounted gates these situations may lend themselves to using either a Pressure Mounted Walk-Through Baby Gate or a Hardware Mounted Walk-Through Child Safety Gate. The reason for these choices are that you are not swinging the entire gate in order to pass through. You are only opening the doorway that exists within the gate in order to pass.

Irregular Openings - These may be large or small areas but in both cases require a Child Safety Gate System that has great versatility. The best of these systems is the Kidco ConfigureGate. The basic gate is made of three 24" panels with the center panel having a walk-through gate in it. Each panel can be connected to the next one at almost infinite angles. Panels (either 24" or 8") can be added or remove to form very large and differently shaped enclosure. The gate itself rests on the floor but only attaches at he wall. The strength of these type of gates is the curves created with the panels and the contact with the floor (no more than two or three panels should be mounted in a straight line). If you are using one of these systems across a straight wide opening of lets say 10 feet or so I would use 12 to 14 feet of gate so that I could create a curved enclosure that would make the gate much more rigid.

I hope that my explanation of the different types of Child Safety Gates has been helpful. In my next post I will talk about Gate Mounting Systems.